Ken-Betwa River Linking Project Cleared
- Government has cleared the India’s first river interlinking project,the Ken-Betwa project with total cost of Rs 9393 crore that was first envisaged in 1980.
- It will connect Ken river in Madhya Pradesh with the Betwa in Uttar Pradesh and will help irrigate 6.35 hectares annually and will provide 49 million cubic metres (mcm) of drinking water & provide 78MW of power.
World Bank drops India's growth rate to 7%
- As per World Bank, with immediate withdrawal of a large volume of currency in circulation and subsequent replacement with new notes in India contributed to slowing growth and thus world Bank has decelerated India's growth for 2016-17 fiscal to 7% from its previous estimate of 7.6%.
- Also, the country would regain momentum in the following years with 7.6 and 7.8% growth.
- According to the report, India maintains the distinction of being the fastest growing emerging market economies of the world, bypassing China.
Air India Launches Fly For Sure Scheme
- The national carrier Air India (AI) has launched a ‘Fly For Sure’ scheme under that the passenger would be able to take the next flight for their destinations.
- To avail the scheme, the passenger would have to pay non-refundable Rs 2,000.
- In case the flight is missed, Air India will accommodate the passenger in the next flight for the choice of destination by the traveler.
India sees increase in tourist arrivals
- India registered an 11% increase in foreign tourist arrivals in 2016 over 2015, with as many as 9 million tourists visiting the country and that resulted in a 15% growth in income from FTAs.
- During a session on ‘Partnering with diaspora to accelerate tourism in India’, Vinod Zutshi, Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, has notified this was way above the projected 4.5% growth.
BIS Revises Standard on Gold Hallmarking
- Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has revised Indian Standard on gold hallmarking as gold jewellery will now be available in three grades of 14, 18 & 22 carat.
- The caratage will also be marked on jewellery in addition to fineness.
- Hallmark on gold jewellery will now have four marks, like the BIS Mark, the purity in carat, fineness & jeweller’s identification mark.
PM Inaugurates India Int’l Exchange
- PM Modi has formally inaugurated the India International exchange (IIE) at GIFT city near Gandhinagar in Gujaratm that will trade in all the products like currency, equities, commodities and derivatives.
- GIFT city & IIE- the International Center of BSE were the dream projects of Modi.
Aadhaar Mandatory for MGNREGA Work
- From April 1, people living in rural areas need to have Aadhaar under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act.
- People will be required to give proof of possession of Aadhaar or undergo the enrolment process till March 31, 2017.
- The govt has invoked Section 7 of the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act 2016 for the purpose.
First student startup fund has Rs 200 crore
- In order to motivate the stratups, Gujarat government has come up with India's first student startup and innovation policy, which aims to provide Rs 200 crore in the form of grants to ideas developed by them.
- The policy aims to support over 1,000 innovation per year and create pre-incubation support in all universities of the state.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched Pravasi Kaushal Vikas Yojana
- ‘Pravasi Kaushal Vikas Yojana’ is launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 8 January 2017 at Bengaluru on the occasion of the inauguration function of 14th Pravasi Bhartiya Divas (PBD).
- This scheme aims to boost the confidence level of the Indian youth so that they did not feel strangers when they land in a country of their choice for vocation and assured.
SEBI relaxed its rules for investment by angel funds
- In order to give a fillip to start-up funding, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) relaxed its rules for investment by angel funds as the upper limit for number of angel investors in a scheme will be increased from 49 to 200.
- The SEBI has also allowed the angel investors to invest in up to five-year old entities, which was earlier three years.
- To diversify risks, SEBI also allowed angel funds to make overseas investments, up to 25% of their investible corpus, in line with other Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs).
